economy

A Freshman Perspective: September Jobs Report and What It Means for Our Careers

A Freshman Perspective: September Jobs Report and What It Means for Our Careers

jacoblund via iStockphoto By Nathan Park The September U.S. Jobs Report was recently released on Oct. 6 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and it blew expectations out of the water. It reported a whopping increase of 336,000 in the U.S. Job Report Non-Farm payroll, which was far above the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 170,000 and was the biggest increase since January. Regarding the different sectors in which these jobs have been added into, jobs in leisure and hospitality rose by 96,000, jobs in government by 73,000, and jobs in health care by 41,000 (compared with the average…
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Authoritarian Success Stories? Evaluating Amartya Sen’s “Development as Freedom” in the Unfree World

Authoritarian Success Stories? Evaluating Amartya Sen’s “Development as Freedom” in the Unfree World

iStock photo by imaginima (2021) By: Claire Chen Amartya Sen’s “Development as Freedom” examines a provocative question posed by authoritarian governments and their sympathizers: does economic development truly necessitate liberal political values, especially in today’s developing world? Such a question becomes especially interesting in the context of Asia’s rapidly industrializing economies. While it is true that some wealthy nations have stable democratic governments, most notably post-WWII Japan, the relationship between prosperity and liberalism is not always clear-cut. South Korea and Taiwan are relatively affluent democracies today, but their authoritarian stints, which both lasted until 1987, could be compatible with economic…
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The Populist Revival of the Islamic Banking Movement

The Populist Revival of the Islamic Banking Movement

iStock Photo By Claire Chen Islamic banking is on the rise. Recent estimates suggest that the industry can expect a 10 percent growth rate over the next year, part of its broader transformation from a niche cultural product to a mainstream commodity part of the broader ethical finance movement. A prevailing interpretation of Islamic banking considers it as simply another alternative in the consumer banking market. It is here that much of the discourse is centered: Islamic banking appears to be an individual moral statement that the savvy consumer chooses among a variety of products. At the same time, the…
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